The Bible: The Epic Miniseries

When this highly rated miniseries first aired on the History Channel in spring 2013, I was unimpressed. I caught a few minutes of the first episode, watched at least one of the Jesus episodes, and concluded that it was mostly flash over substance. But after finally buying the DVD set in March 2014, and watching it all the way through, I'm surprised to say that it's actually quite an impressive series despite its flaws. As a scripture teacher at a Catholic high school, I can now say I highly recommend it as a good visual sampling of the sacred text.The best thing about this series is that it depicts the entire Bible, in 10 episodes, as one overarching theme of God's love for humanity. There is a continuity of style and theme in the filmmaking that is breathtaking to witness on film, as the video flies through the Hebrew Torah and New Testament with startling narrative drive. Rather than having to rent multiple videos with different actors and technical crews to follow the Bible on film, we've got it all -- well, the greatest hits -- here in one miniseries.The Old Testament episodes wisely depict God's relationship with humanity through God's five covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Some of these episodes are quite good, particularly the deeply moving episode concerning Abraham, which captures his story -- a highlight is the climactic near-sacrifice of his son Isaac -- with poignancy and clarity. Each episode is organized by a theme that holds together disparate Biblical sources remarkably well. The Moses episode is excellent despite ending too abruptly as he returns from Sinai with the commandments, depriving us of the Golden Calf and many other memorable moments. The episodes on Joshua, Samson, King Saul, and King David do a fine job in depicting the rise of Israel's kingdom. But the episode featuring Israel's subjugation under Babylon and Persia carries perhaps the greatest power outside of the Abraham material, giving us iconic renditions of the fiery furnace and Lion's Den captivity stories from the Book of Daniel, with heartfelt performances by the actors playing Daniel and others.The New Testament episodes slow down quite a bit, minimizing the narration as we come to focus four full episodes on Jesus of Nazareth, with just the tenth and final episode used to squeeze in the Acts of the Apostles and a hint of Revelation. The Jesus episodes are so-so, but the Acts of the Apostles episode at the end of the series is particularly good, inasmuch as one feels the continuity of watching the same actors from the Jesus episodes. I would have liked to see more of the apostolic martyrdom traditions (particularly Peter) depicted rather than just described by the narrator, but it's really neat to see Acts and Revelation building to a climax with the same actors in the same series. By the end, you really feel like you've sampled the whole Bible, albeit the "greatest hits" version. It doesn't feel like 9 hours at all and the last disc of this four-disc set even includes a moving "Mary, Did You Know?" music video in addition to a helpful documentary feature.Presentation style is a plus here. The framing device with Noah relating Genesis 1-3 at the start of episode one is clever, reflecting the fact that this primeval history emerges from a symbolic oral storytelling tradition designed to impart religious truth rather than scientific facts. The Hans Zimmer-infused musical score, costumes, and filmmaking all create a theatrical unity to this material. The color-blind casting of the roles (i.e. a black Samson and many middle eastern actors mixed with the British thespians) make the series feel particularly representative of the Middle Eastern melting pot. And the narration by Keith David does a nice job of providing transitions between many stories.On the negative side, one often feels the absence in this show of what is left out from the Bible, wishing the filmmakers had gone for broke by filming a few more episodes. Cutting straight from Abraham to Moses overlooks the story of Jacob (Israel) and his 12 sons, ancestors of the 12 tribes, and of the particularly moving Joseph story of reconciliation among these brothers that concludes Genesis. Ending the Moses episode right when it was getting really exciting is a bummer. And the story of Solomon, or at least of the division of Israel into a northern and southern kingdom under Solomon's son, would have helped alleviate the narrative incoherence of the rushed effort to portray Babylon's conquest of Jerusalem and the story of the prophet Jeremiah. There's no hint here that the northern kingdom, including prophets like Isaiah and Jonah, ever existed. Finally, I wish the series would have at least acknowledged Alexander the Great and the revolt of the Maccabees (subject of Hanukkah) that re-established an independent Jewish kingdom prior to the Roman conquest in 63 BC. Although most Protestant and Jewish Bibles exile the two books of Maccabees to second-canon status, these events would still help us understand the Roman conquest better.This brings me to the only weakness of the series, which is its general unevenness. It tries to squeeze the 46 books of the Old Testament into 5 episodes while spreading out the 27 New Testament books over 5 episodes as well. As a result, the Old Testament episodes gradually feel rushed while the New Testament episodes linger over the gospel accounts of Jesus to the exclusion of much other material.Nevertheless, this series is contemporary enough (John the Baptist has dreds!) and breezy enough (episodes range from 40 to 54 minutes) to be a powerful teaching tool for group study or classroom use. While the excellent TNT Bible Series has richer miniseries teleplays, they tend to be three hours long and frequently padded with extra-biblical material, limiting their classroom use unless one has lots of time to spare. This History Channel series is more like a summary or paraphrase of the Bible, giving us (as the opening scrawl proclaims) the spirit of the text in digestible nuggets rather than word-for-word accuracy. I highly recommend it for teenagers, particularly younger ones, as an entree into the Bible. Older students will want more meat, but this series is more than enough to whet the appetite of spiritual seekers who normally avoid religious material.I revisited this miniseries after seeing "Son of God" in theaters and being favorably impressed with its 2 1/2 hour theatrical cut of the 4 hours of Jesus material from the series. To be candid, I found the Jesus material in "Son of God" far more compelling than it is in the miniseries, where it is chopped up over four episodes and dramatically weighed down by the omniscient narration. I found it helpful to purchase the full miniseries DVD set for this reason: The last episode on Acts and Revelation, titled "Courage," makes a great epilogue to watching "Son of God" on its own! It feels like a 50-minute sequel to the theatrical film, which is particularly valuable since there are no top-notch films on Acts of the Apostles (only miniseries and low-budget stuff) available to buy.The Bible Miniseries take on "Acts of the Apostles" is not comprehensive, but it hits the major plot points and grows organically out of the Jesus episodes. With so many creaky older Biblical TV films floating around, it's great to have one portable DVD package with visuals from the whole Bible that hold together well in one narrative. This four-disc DVD set in a thin clamshell case is definitely worth owning if you want a visual taste of scripture.

This is one awesome series! We don't have cable, so we where unable to view this series on the history channel. We pre ordered this series and could not wait to get this series. With a busy life, we also wanted the option to watch The Bible when we wanted to.What a treat we were in for! This series is full of excitement just like the word! Our children love this series and even know which stories are which! This drew their attention and kept them wanting more!The word is the best anytime any day! You will enjoy this series. You will learn so much. This series is quality, truth, anointed and so much more.I always did love Touched by an Angel and Highway to Heaven. We own all of the Highway to Heaven that have been released and only need one more season of Touched by an Angel to complete that series. The Bible will make a great addition to your library!Thank you to the producers and to the history channel for having the courage to air this much needed story! All we have is Abba, and we need series like this to humble ourselves and to turn back to our Abba.We don't have cable because of all the trash on T.V. now days, so this is a breath of fresh air!We want our children to see what real T.V. and good T.V. shows really are and because we love this T.V. series, its clean fun and inspiration! Great for family time! We cut the cord on cable and now view TV though our DVD collection or watch though Netflix on our Roku. We just grew tired of paying for paid TV with nothing good to watch.We could not find this show on Netflix and decided to purchase this set individually as it was more affordable to purchase that way. Which is okay for us as we like to take our DVD's with us while on the road as it makes for some fun times. This has also come in handy when we are out and have to wait for long periods of time..So back to the reason we went ahead and purchased this collection. Due to the garbage on T.V. these days, looks like many people are looking for great T.V. shows and are turning to shows like this again. Many people are tired of paying for trash T.V. so they have found other ways to view T.V. the way they want to. Looks like this is the growing attitudes with paid for TV these days.. And I know many like this show so it is in demand!Anyway, our family loves this show and glad that we were still able to find this show for a decent price on pre paid order.. We don't want to spend too much money out of our budget. We are just glad to be able to watch T.V. the way we want to and not have to pay for crap TV. We are tired of today's T.V. shows.. It's really sad that such a good method of influence has turned into trash T.V with the exception of National Geo, Animal plant etc.. Any way, if you want clean T.V. this is it!I can say since we cut cable off we have a better free life.. seems like we have more family time and time to do the things that we want to do. Plus we pay for the shows that we want like The Cosby show and Touched by an Angel since it is not on Netflix. I am glad that this T.V. series is available on Amazon.This T.V. Series teaches a lot of great lessons and also entertains you.. Miss those days of shows like this. So if you are looking for clean great family fun, this show is for you.. You will not be disappointed. Our children love this show!If you are looking for more shows and T.V. like this, try Sky Angel Fave T.V. you will find so many great shows similar to High Way To Heaven and Touched By An Angel.Happy viewing! We need real T.V. to come back.. We will not pay for paid for T.V. with all of the trash that is on it.We educate and entertain ourselves on everything except the word.. We need to educate our selves on the Lord and stand on the word.Again, thank you for making this series! This is a blessing and for all who support this series, you will be blessed!To the producers, please make more series like this. It is needed and the demand is there for clean T.V.Enjoy and feast on the word of the Lord!